


The Three Kings

by CatherineMorgenstern



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Halloween, One Shot, The Three Kings ritual
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-30
Updated: 2016-10-30
Packaged: 2018-08-27 22:54:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8420341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CatherineMorgenstern/pseuds/CatherineMorgenstern
Summary: Attempting The Three Kings ritual might not have been the best idea Hermione's ever had. Are the consequences worth it just to prove Ron wrong?





	

**Author's Note:**

> Hello lovely readers, here's my contribution to the array of Halloween fics.  
> The link to the actual ritual will be in the author’s note at the end. 
> 
> A huge thank you to my editor, [Heeley](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Heeley/pseuds/Heeley) and [NDMC](https://ndmc.tumblr.com/), a dear friend of mine, who were kind enough to read through it and give me feedback. I love you both! *mwa*
> 
> Happy reading!

Based on a real ritual.

 

“I should've done it anyway,” complained Ron, frowning at Harry while sitting down and immediately starting to pile his plate with scrambled eggs.

“No, we did the right thing. The door was closed and the instructions very clearly stated that to be a red flag and not to proceed,” replied Harry, sounding exasperated.

“But everything else seemed to be in order. Maybe someone else looked inside and closed it,” said Ron petulantly. 

At Ron’s raised voice, Hermione finally looked up from the Daily Prophet and took notice of her two best friends’ bickering. Raising an eyebrow, she watched Harry roll his eyes at Ron's pout. 

“What's going on?” she asked.

“Nothing,” Harry stated, taking out her cell phone from his bag and handing it to her. “Thanks for letting us borrow it.”

“You're welcome. What did you need it for anyway? Did yours break?”

“Nah, I..I showed Ron how to use one, that's all.”

Hearing his name made Ron snap out of his foul mood. “We needed a second phone for a game.”

Hermione scoffed. “Of course you did. What idiocy have you two been up to?”

From the corner of her eye she saw Harry motioning for Ron to shut up, which made her only more curious. 

“We tried to summon demons,” Ron said proudly with a glint in his eyes. 

She nearly spit out her pumpkin juice. “You tried to summon what?” she shrieked. Turning to Harry, she demanded, “Explain. Now!”

He looked sheepish and threw his best mate a sour look. “There's this dare, well, it seems more like a ritual called “The Three Kings”. It involves mirrors and a dark room and the cell phone is one of the failsafes...it’s rather childish, really, I don't want to bore you. And we didn't go through with it anyway, because our setup had been messed with and that's supposedly a bad sign.”

Ron crossed his arms over his chest and piped in, “If it's so childish, why did you participate?”

“Because I couldn't let you do it alone!”

“Tell me exactly how it's supposed to work!”

“Well,” Ron began excitedly, “you need two people. One, who actually does the ritual and one, who acts as a failsafe. And you need a room that's quiet, empty and large enough to place three chairs in and that either has no windows or windows that can be covered completely. You should start setting everything up at 11pm by placing one chair in the centre of the room, facing north. This will be your throne. The other two chairs need to be placed on either side of your throne an arm’s length away, facing it. They'll be the Queen’s and the Fool’s chair. You place two mirrors on them. The mirrors should be facing each other and your throne. You need to be able to see your reflection in both mirrors out of the corners of your eyes while seated and looking straight ahead, meaning you shouldn't have to move your head or your eyes to see your reflection. Place a bucket of water and a mug in front of you just out of reach. The fan should be placed directly behind your throne and set to medium or low, never high. It needs to be stationary since it acts as another failsafe. Should you move your body, willingly or not, the fan will blow out the candle and end the game. Once you've done all that, you need to leave the room, but leave the fan on and the door open. Then you go to your bedroom, or wherever you want to sleep that night, and set the candle, matches, cell phone and an alarm clock next to your bed. After you've made sure your phone is charging - good thing Dad figured out how to modify these transportable sockets - you need to set the alarm for 3:30 am. Turn the lights off and keep your object of sentimental value, which is your ‘power object’, close. It will guide you back should you get lost during the game. Go to bed and try to sleep.”

Ron was getting more and more animated, so much that he even forgot to keep eating. Hermione looked very sceptical while listening to him, watching his eyes widen as he continued explaining. 

“Wake up at 3:30 am when your alarm goes off. Turn off the alarm, but do not turn on the light. Take your power object, your cell phone, light the candle and return to the dark room. You have to be sitting in your throne by 3:33 am,” Ron said. “Take your seat and look straight ahead into the darkness. Do not look into the mirrors and don't let your candle be extinguished by the fan. If you want to ask any questions, you can do that then and you might get answers coming from either, or both, of the mirrors, but don't look at them. One of the mirrors acts as the Queen and the other as the Fool, but you might not know which is which. Also, you are either the Queen or the Fool to whatever entities settle in the mirrors. You have to stay in your throne until 4:34 am. At that time your partner should call out your name. If you don't respond, your partner should call your phone. If you still don't respond, your partner should enter the room, take the mug, fill it with water from the bucket and splash you with it. They are not allowed to touch you.”

Harry chimed in, “But there are a number of red flags you should look out for. If your cell phone didn't charge or you did not wake up at precisely 3:30 am or the door to the dark room is closed although you left it open or you notice that the fan in the room that you left on is turned off or you didn't manage to be seated in your throne by precisely 3:33 am; do not proceed! In fact, the instructions even say you should take your partner and anyone else in the building, leave and don't come back until after 6 am.”

“Which you didn't do,” Hermione said disapprovingly. Even though she thought this was all nonsense she believed in sticking to the rules once you've committed to something like this. And real or not, a summoning ritual could go dreadfully wrong if you don't abide the instructions.

“No...but we did cast protective charms around the room and sealed it!” said Harry.

“Nothing happened anyway. Harry made me abort the game since the door was closed,” muttered Ron. 

“You do know that that isn't an actual summoning ritual, right? It sounds more like a psychological experiment. Everything you've described seems to be a tool to get your mind into a meditative state. The short sleep makes sure you're not entirely awake, the fan creates white noise that is great as a backdrop for your mind to conjure something, plus the one candle in the darkness will create shadows that your mind can distort without being too much of a distraction. It seems really interesting, though. You can probably reach your subconscious if you're able to get into a trance-like state,” Hermione mused.

“It's not psychological, it's paranormal!” said Ron, sounding annoyed. “Why do you have to always try and rationalise everything? Merlin, you're a witch! You know that supernatural stuff exists!”

“Ron,” Hermione said, patiently, “it is not a proper ritual. There's no incantation and it doesn't seem to be related to any kind of Dark Magic either. It's not based on blood or your name or anything.”

“Well, if you think it's such nonsense, you won't mind trying it yourself! After all, it's not like it does anything, right?” he demanded, trying to egg her on with a peculiar expression in his eyes.

“Ron, leave her alone,” said Harry, looking up from the Prophet he had borrowed from Hermione.

Hermione rolled her eyes at his petulant tone. “I don't have time for such shenanigans, contrary to what you might believe, I actually do need to study in order to keep up my grades.”

“I knew you were too afraid to do it or is it because tomorrow’s Halloween?” he sniped, smirking infuriatingly at her. 

Hermione sighed loudly. “Fine, I'll try it. But only so you'll stop bugging me!”

Ron grinned.

“But wouldn't it be better to do it some other time? You two must be exhausted from staying up last night and I'll need you to come fetch me, after all.”

Harry sighed. “You really don't have to do this just to prove a point, Mione. But if you're determined...I'm not tired at all. I swear I'll be there to come get you at 4:34am.”

-OOOOOOOOO-

At 11pm that night, Harry and Ron walked Hermione to the storage room just outside of Gryffindor Tower that they'd prepared last night. It needed to be close enough to their quarters that they could make it to the throne in three minutes and the storage room was both empty and big enough for what they had in mind.

Since everything had been set up yesterday by the boys, they just needed to check if it was still in order. Entering the room they saw the three chairs in exactly the position they wanted with the mirrors facing the throne and the bucket of water in front of it.

“Mione, why don't you sit down and see if we need to adjust the mirrors or the bucket?” suggested Harry. “Remember, you need to stare straight ahead and still be able to see your reflection in your peripheral vision and the bucket should be just out of reach for you.”

Hermione took a seat in the chair that was supposed to be her throne. Looking to her right towards Ron, who was still standing in the doorway, she said, “Everything seems to be as instructed. Are we sure this chair is facing north?” But before Ron or Harry could answer her, she'd already whipped out her wand and said, “Point me!”

Her wand wiggled where it lay in her palm and pointed directly in front of her, which meant that the throne was indeed facing north.

“Alright. That's it for now, then?” she asked, looking to Harry while standing up.

“Yeah, everything is as it should be. You just need to turn on the fan behind you and then we can go to Gryffindor Tower,” said Harry. 

Turning around, she reached for the fan that was already plugged into the transportable socket and set it on low. The whirling sounds of the rotating blades filled the air as she made her way towards the door, carefully stepping around the chair that held the mirror to the right of the throne. 

As she reached the boys, they made sure that the door was left wide open and walked back towards the common room.

“Okay, so I'll go to sleep in my dorm and you two will be staying in the common room and make sure that the lights in there will be turned off by the time I get up, right?” she asked. 

“Yes, we'll be playing wizard's chess or something and later I’ll escort you to the storage room, if you wake up at precisely 3:30am,” replied Harry.

“And don't forget to extinguish the fire,” Hermione ordered, going through everything in her mind.

“Mione, we know! We got this, okay?” reassured Ron, sounding slightly peeved. 

“Alright! I just want to make sure that we're not forgetting anything,” she said as they climbed through the entrance to their common room.  
“You already have one of Arthur’s transportable sockets up in your dorm, right? Remember to plug your phone in. It needs to be fully charged,” said Harry.

“Yes, I've had that ever since school started. And the candle with matches is already on my bedside table. Well, I guess I'll be going to sleep then.”

“See you later,” said Ron while Harry smiled at her and walked over to one of the tables.

When she reached her bed, she plugged in her phone and put her wand, which would serve as her ‘power object’ since she wasn't willing to leave it behind, next to the candle and matches. Setting her alarm for 3:30am she drew the curtains closed and snuggled under the covers. 

-OOOOOOOOO-

She was pulled out of sleep by her alarm and quickly turned it off to avoid rousing Lavender and Parvati. Luckily, they slept like the dead. Checking the clock to make sure it was 3:30am, she grabbed the matchbook and lit the candle before grabbing her wand and the cell phone that was completely charged by now. 

Guided by the flickering light of the candle she managed to walk across the familiar dorm room without stumbling. Carefully, she opened the door and closed it without making any noise before she walked down the stairs and entered the dark common room.

She almost jumped in fright when Harry and Ron suddenly appeared in her line of sight. Eerily illuminated by the candlelight, Ron grinned at her and cocked his head towards the portrait hole while Harry took her free hand and guided her into the hallway, leaving Ron behind. 

The closer they got to the storage room, the more unease Hermione felt. She couldn't quite explain it, but it was as though the air became more dense and the shadows seemed to lengthen. Her stomach tightened, but she took a deep breath and marched on, trying to convince herself that she was being silly. 

The storage’s door came into view. Standing just as widely open as they've left it. They stopped in front of the entry and peered into the solid-looking blackness. Hermione looked at Harry, who gave her an encouraging smile.

Nodding, Hermione briefly squeezed Harry's hand and took hold of the handle. Taking care not to extinguish her candle, she pulled the door closed behind her. She started walking straight forward towards the place where she could just make out the outlines of the three chairs. 

The only sound that could be heard was the whirring of the fan. Making her way towards her throne, she almost stumbled over the chair that held the right mirror. Quickly, she raised a hand to protect the flame as she managed to regain her balance and then turned around to take a seat.

She straightened her spine so that her entire back touched the chair and put both hands around the pillar candle, placing it on her lap while feeling the soft stream of air hit her spine in the middle of her back.

It was impossibly hard to not take a look into one of the mirrors, but Hermione forced herself to stare straight ahead. From her peripheral vision, she could see the faintly illuminated surfaces. They shimmered in the almost darkness, as though smoke was swirling on the glass. 

Minutes passed. Hermione's eyes began to water from staring into nothing and her heart rate slowed significantly as she realised she'd been right all along. Nothing was going to happen. Not even some psychological phenomenon - she hadn't expected it to since she'd been certain her pragmatic mind wouldn't allow her to drift into that meditative state needed for such an endeavour.

She was debating just getting up and leaving since spending the rest of the hour here seemed to be a waste of time. But her need for following orders kept her from doing that. She'd wait for Harry to come get her and then rub it in Ron’s face that she, once again, had been right. 

Goosebumps erupted on her arms as the temperature suddenly dropped. Her breath began to stream out in white puffs as she started to pant in fear. Something wasn't right. It felt like there was a presence in the room, pressing against her skin. But that was silly. Surely her mind was just playing tricks on her. 

Holding her breath, she listened for any sounds that shouldn't be there. Aside from her rapid heartbeat thrumming in her ears, there was nothing. Hermione released her breath in a loud rush and relaxed her grip on the candle. The slightly softened wax now bore the imprint of her fingers. 

Just as she was about to relax her rigid posture, she heard an unintelligible whisper. 

“Who's there?” Hermione called out, almost turning her head to look around, but catching herself at the last second. 

She could see the shimmer in the mirror to her left intensifying along with the fear creeping up her spine.

“Hello, Hermione.”

Hermione gasped. The sound of her name, spoken by a high childlike voice made her tremble

“How do you know my name?”

A girlish giggle answered her. The sound seemed to echo and come from all directions at once, causing goosebumps to erupt on her skin.

“What do you want?” she asked with a racing heart. 

“What do you want? You've summoned me, after all.”

“Liar,” said a dark, sinister voice that came from the mirror to her right. From the corner of her eye, she could make out that its surface was rippling.

Gulping loudly, Hermione forced herself to remain calm. “How would you know that was a lie?”

A low chuckle came from the left mirror, sounding entirely male. “A bright witch such as yourself should know that this wasn't a summoning ritual. So you couldn't’ve summoned anyone or anything, hence that was a lie.”

She tried to make sense of what was happening, factoring in what these...entities...had said. It's just my overactive imagination. This isn't real, she told herself. 

“Hermione…” the child’s voice sang, “I know how you're going to die. Would you like me to tell you?”

Sweat broke out on her brow as she instinctively inclined her ear towards the left mirror. Without looking at it, she stated, “You can't know that!”

“Are you sure? I'll whisper it in your ear. All you need to do is look at me!”

“Surely, you can't be idiotic enough to believe that,” the right mirror chimed in, full of dark mirth. 

Turning her head back, so that she was staring straight ahead again, she concentrated on the right mirror in her peripheral vision.

“Of course not. Since this is all happening in my mind, it's probably only my subconscious dealing with my fear of not surviving the war,” Hermione said slowly. 

“And am I part of your subconscious too?” the deep voice asked.

“Naturally. You must be the part of me that's too pragmatic to be awed by magic.”

Chilling laughter flooded the room as the dark and childlike voice mingled. The mirrors were laughing at her. Mocking her. Hermione felt fear numb her body as their presence seemed to expand, suffocating her. 

“If that's true, it won't hurt to look. Since it's all in your head, I can't harm you, right? Or are you too frightened? Not a true Gryffindor, after all, hmm?” the child's voice taunted. 

“Don't listen to that. Rather, look here and embrace your...pragmatic...side,” murmured the male voice seductively. 

Hermione didn’t know what to think. The echoing voices were starting to give her a headache while she tried to concentrate on figuring out what exactly was happening. Staring past the mirrors at the dark wall in front of her, she inhaled deeply a couple of times and managed to blend them out so that their voices sounded faded and were unintelligible. 

Whatever is happening here, I can’t let them trick me into looking at one of the mirrors. What if they aren’t just in my head and could do real harm? I can’t risk that, she thought. Straightening her spine and her resolve, she ignored the mirrors and stared straight ahead, thinking it couldn’t be all that long until Harry would come and fetch her.

She managed to do that quite well, only picking up every now and then on her name being called in increasingly angry voices when the door to her right opened and her heart lightened.

Turning to her left, being very careful not to gaze into the right mirror that was now silent, she looked towards the door.

Expecting to see Harry, she was startled to find Ron blocking the doorway that let in a sliver of light.

He wore a sinister grin that was so unlike her best friend that she immediately knew something was wrong. Standing up in a rush, she shouted, “Where’s Harry? What’s going on?”

The grin on Ron’s face widened into a grotesque smile. She realised the fan was off as his unnaturally high laughter reached her ears in the otherwise silent room. He whispered, “Expelliarmus!”

Not having expected for Ron to take her wand, she couldn’t keep it from whirring towards him through the air, divesting her of her ‘power object’ and only means of defense. He slammed the door shut and left Hermione with only her flickering candle as a light source.

Hermione screamed. Panicking, she started to run towards the door and got caught on the leg of the chair that held the male mirror that was now all but shouting at her. She crashed to the floor, letting go of the candle in the process. Twisting around immediately, she tried catching the chair in order to keep it from falling over. The flame died as she heard the chair toppling to the ground and smashing the mirror into pieces. But it was too late and she’d already looked into the other mirror by accident.

In the darkness, the glimmer coming from the mirror was almost blinding. There was no reflection, only a vague humanoid shape with burning orange eyes and a wide grin.

Hermione tried to move her eyes but found she couldn’t look away. Getting up, she cut her palms and wrists on the shards littering the floor.

The joyful childlike laughter raised every hair on her body. It sounded so triumphant that she got sick to her stomach as the shape seemed to come closer and closer to the surface of the mirror.

As if in trance, Hermione walked towards it, knocking over the bucket of water in the process. She whimpered and trembled the entire time as her legs kept moving, led by an external force.

When she was standing so close to the mirror that her nose touched the glass, she let out an ear-piercing scream at what she saw.

-OOOOOOOOO-

Harry awoke in the common room with a bitter taste in his mouth. Feeling confused and sluggish, he looked around the room that was illuminated by the first rays of dawn. He was alone. Hadn’t Ron been with him?

His goblet lay on its side in front of him. Pumpkin juice was spilt on the table and a thick, dark fluid clung to the bottom of the goblet. 

Sleeping Draught.

With a jolt he remembered Hermione and the game. Looking at his watch, he saw that it was almost 6am.

Harry jumped up, sprinted across the common room towards the portrait hole and down the corridor to the closed door of the storage room. Throwing the door open, he shouted for Hermione. No answer.

He took out his wand and murmured, “Lumos!”

The scene that greeted him made his blood freeze in his veins.

One of the chairs was lying on its side. A huge puddle of blood and water smeared the glass-covered floor in front of the throne and the mirror that was still standing.

The mirror was cracked and completely coated in blood.

A shoe lay in front of it.

Hermione was nowhere to be found.

**Author's Note:**

> I read about this ritual ages ago on sixpenceee’s tumblr and couldn't quite get it out of my head.
> 
> Ritual found on [sixpenceee](http://sixpenceee.com/post/126795574514/forgotten-dares-3-the-shadowside-also-known)'s Tumblr.


End file.
